I wouldn’t describe this as super-hard, but it passed Friday muster at least by the standards of this gentle week, with some interesting and amusing constructions amidst a fair few quite straightforward compatriots. I mostly … Read more “Times 27,737: Gegs Benicted”
Month: August 2020
Times Quick Cryptic No 1673 by Teazel
My thanks for a neatly crafted puzzle from Teazel, containing some nice misdirection, a healthy balance of very easy and cunningly trickier clues, and a smidgeon of General Knowledge that may catch some out. All … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1673 by Teazel”
Times 27736 – twice shy
Time taken: 8:43. Relieved to have an all-correct this time, since I managed to make silly mistakes in both Monday and Tuesday’s daily puzzle and the Monday quick cryptic. Fortunately there was no spelling of … Read more “Times 27736 – twice shy”
Times 27735 – carpe diem !
I had posted this for timely display, then checked LJ had saved it, all was fine. Then later I checked again intending to do a tweak or two and it had vanished ! Carpe diem … Read more “Times 27735 – carpe diem !”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1672 by Hurley
Introduction Finally, I didn’t choke! 5:33 is on par with my other times lately, and I’ll gladly take it. Unfortunately, I was doing so well on time that I forgot I was going to try … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1672 by Hurley”
Times Cryptic 27734
Solving time: 31 minutes. Some rather fine surfaces today. Not quite as easy as yesterday’s offering but for the most part this was pretty straightforward with one or two clues possibly escaped from the Quickie. … Read more “Times Cryptic 27734”
Times Quick Cryptic 1671 by Joker
Excellent QC fare from Joker. Quick (9 minutes) with some great surfaces to enjoy along the way. There seemed to be a lot of anagrams but I now count only 5. I’ve had to push … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1671 by Joker”
Times 27733 – Below the belt?
One of those puzzles with an unchecked vowel, which is likely to cause an error or two and a discussion or three. I’m not sure if I am prepared to criticise the setter or anyone … Read more “Times 27733 – Below the belt?”
Times Quick Cryptic 1670 by Mara
A fairly straightforward 10 minute solve with rather more double meaning clues than usual – 6 in all. As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1670 by Mara”
Mephisto 3126 – Not so harcane….
I was able to do most of this without using Chambers, but in the end I came up against a few words I didn’t know. I was able to derive most of these from the … Read more “Mephisto 3126 – Not so harcane….”